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The partnership includes a coordinated approach to the delivery, enablement, systems integration and marketing of industry-specific cloud applications for enterprises in several industries.

Accenture, the $35 billion-per-year IT consulting company with more than 425,000 employees in 120 countries that influences just about all tech sectors, made a trio of announcements Nov. 7 at Dreamforce 2017 in San Francisco.

The most important involved an expanded strategic alliance with Vlocity, an industry cloud provider that features omnichannel and industry-specific cloud and mobile solutions on the Salesforce Customer Success Platform.

The partnership includes a coordinated approach to the delivery, enablement, systems integration and marketing of industry-specific cloud applications for enterprises in industries consisting of including communications and media, insurance, health insurance and the public sector, Accenture said.

Vlocity Industry Cloud apps, built on Salesforce’s Customer Success Platform, are new-gen cloud and mobile applications that pre-embed industry-specific functionality, best practices and business processes. Vlocity apps use the omnichannel capabilities of the Salesforce platform to enable companies to achieve faster business agility and time-to-value from the cloud, the company said.

Accenture has built more than 35 industry clouds supporting more than 100 clients in 15 industries spanning North America, Europe and Asia, according to Saideep Raj, Senior Managing Director of Accenture Cloud First Applications.

Further reading

Accenture was one of the first global companies to establish a strategic alliance with Salesforce. Accenture employs more than 11,000 Salesforce-skilled professionals and has invested in seven acquisitions in recent years as part of its investment in Salesforce capabilities.

Vlocity is one of Salesforce’s fastest-growing independent software vendor (ISV) partners and was recently recognized by Forbes as a 2017 Top 100 cloud company.

New Life Sciences Platform Debuts

At Dreamforce, Accenture launched its new Patient Experience Manager, which gives life sciences companies a single view of patient interactions, enabling them to make real-time improvements in the patient experience by evaluating and optimizing the effectiveness of each interaction.

The new package helps life sciences companies aggregate, monitor and measure patient interactions from multiple sources, such as nursing support providers, specialty pharmacy services, and affordability programs. It is part of the Accenture Intelligent Patient Platform which leverages a range of advanced analytics technologies that are fully integrated with Salesforce Health Cloud.

Government Cloud Apps Not Being Used Effectively

Finally, Accenture and Salesforce commissioned and released new research by the Governing Institute about the use and effectiveness of government cloud applications.

The institute conducted the online survey in May 2017 of 2,006 U.S. citizens (adults) and 125 local government officials, in order to gather data regarding civic engagement in government service requests.

Looks like the public may need more education about all this. Key findings included:

Three-fourths (74 percent) of survey respondents said they rarely or never request services from a government agency.

Of the 26 percent who do occasionally or more often request government services, a mere 10 percent said they made requests on a regular basis, submitting requests every few months or more. Nonetheless, when asked if government service requests are answered promptly, many more said no (37 percent).

Sixty-one percent of citizens surveyed did not know if their jurisdiction had a 311 telephone service or online option for making non-emergency government service requests. Among the respondents who live in a jurisdiction with a 311 or similar civic engagement platform, 58 percent were not aware of the system.